Cholera death toll continues to rise in Haiti

Health officials in Haiti said on Friday that the overall number of deaths caused by cholera in the Caribbean country since October has increased to 6,453.

The Haitian Health Ministry said that the number of people infected with the disease has almost reached half a million, though the epidemic is decreasing. The report said that 455,727 people had been treated due to cholera and that 242,205 had to be hospitalized, Xinhua reports.

The western province of Artibonite has suffered the highest amount of deaths with 1,196, while the southwest province of Nippes has had the smallest death toll at 181. In the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, 221 people have been killed since October.

The epidemic first broke out in central Haiti, supposedly as a result of the spill of dregs from a Nepalese camp, which was part of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

The Dominican Republic, a country that neighbors Haiti to the east, has also been suffering from the disease since November, which has led to the deaths of at least 135 people.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the symptoms of cholera include profuse watery diarrhea, leg cramps and vomiting. In infected people, the rapid loss of body fluids can lead to shock and dehydration. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.